April 14 2023 - Friday Roundup Extravaganza

👋Good morning friends. It's Friday, so we've got our weekly roundup video, lots of news to cover, and most importantly– I made my first meme. Let's get into it.

Note: Apologizes for the delay in today's post, our hosting platform had network outages, so we're just getting back online. Thanks for your patience!

Amazon Web Services has launched a cloud service called Bedrock, offering developers access to AI-powered language models. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said these models usually cost billions of dollars and many years to train, and Bedrock will offer clients the ability to customise existing models for their own needs. The Bedrock service will include Amazon's first-party language models called Titan, as well as models from AI21, Anthropic, and Stability AI. The move follows Microsoft and Google also offering language models to developers, as AI becomes a larger part of cloud spending.

Walmart is selling menswear brand Bonobos for $75 million, which is a lot less than the $310 million it paid for it in 2017. Express and management firm WHP Global will acquire Bonobos, with the former taking ownership of the operating assets and assuming the related liabilities for $25 million. Bonobos recorded around $200 million in sales last year and has more than 60 physical locations for consumers to try on clothes.

Bob Lee, the Cash App founder who was fatally stabbed on Tuesday, was allegedly killed by Nima Momeni, a tech consultant who has now been charged with murder. Lee and Momeni knew each other, and were allegedly driving together through downtown San Francisco in a car registered to Momeni when some kind of confrontation ensued. Police allege that Momeni stabbed Lee multiple times with a knife recovered nearby. Lee's death received national coverage, leading to claims of San Francisco being a city overrun by crime, but the city's violent crime rate is relatively low.

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy stated in his annual letter to shareholders that the company remains committed to investing in innovative technologies despite the challenges faced in the past year. Jassy listed several business lines that he believes will spur further growth, including its international business, chip development, advertising, its grocery business, healthcare and its satellite-internet business Project Kuiper. Amazon is currently cutting costs and optimizing its package-delivery network to battle the rising cost of getting products to customers.

• Tim McGraw has teamed up with Skydance Media to launch a media company named Down Home. It will be based in Nashville and produce film, TV, and digital media aimed at connecting McGraw's country music audience with Hollywood and brands. The venture, launched with backing from management company EM.Co and social content studio Shareability, will also establish a social content studio to nurture local Nashville talent. Skydance will develop film and TV projects with the company and David Ellison will serve on Down Home's board.
• Apple TV+ has reached a multi-year content deal with Canal+ in France, marking the first of its kind for the streamer in the country. The deal will make Apple TV+ shows available to all Canal+ subscribers in France, French-speaking Switzerland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia. New Canal+ subscribers will see shows such as Morning Show, Ted Lasso, and Severance included in their subscription. Additionally, Apple TV+ originals like Foundation and Tehran will be broadcast on the Canal+ channel. The partnership provides Apple TV+ with access to a significant subscriber base in a major territory.
• Spotify has launched a new technology that allows radio broadcasters to turn their existing audio content into podcasts, known as "broadcast-to-podcast." The technology, based on IP acquired from Australian podcast tech company Whooshkaa, will be integrated into Spotify's enterprise podcast tech platform, Megaphone. The aim is to help broadcasters reach new audiences, especially among younger listeners who prefer to get their news through digital channels like podcasts.
• The HBO Max rebrand to simply Max is being widely criticized as users are unhappy with the removal of the HBO name and the prestige that it signifies. On Twitter, the nixing of the HBO brand name is being described as categorically dumb.

• TBWA\Media Arts Lab, Apple's global creative agency, has promoted James Taylor to global head of design. In his new role, James will oversee all design systems at Media Arts Lab offices worldwide and drive the education and integration of the agency's design philosophy across all departments.
• Google Chat is getting a Material Design 3 update to match the interfaces of other Workspace apps like Docs and Gmail. The redesign includes rounded buttons, blue accents, and minor changes to the message view, compose setup, new topic button, and thread panel within direct messages and spaces. In addition to the design update, Google has also announced a new Chat feature that allows Space Managers to create announcement-only channels.

• Subway, the fast-food chain, is up for sale and over 10 interested parties, including private equity firms, are currently conducting a second round of due diligence. The company is aiming to sell for at least $10 billion, with a buyer expected to be announced by the end of May. Subway has also raised its forecast for earnings, suggesting strong business performance.
• Meta is regaining its footing with marketers as they reallocate funds back towards the platform, thanks to the success of Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns. Although some marketers are wary of the lack of transparency in Advantage+, others find Meta's automation and AI tools more appealing than those offered by TikTok's Smart Performance Campaigns, which have not yielded significant improvements compared to traditional campaigns.
• Building Your Brand Shouldn’t Come First: An Interview with Rachel Wentzel, Adidas
• LVMH's headquarters in Paris were stormed by protesters as demonstrations against President Emmanuel Macron’s pension overhaul spilled over into other facets of France’s establishment. Video footage captured a crowd of men forcing their way through the entrance of the luxury group’s headquarters on Paris’s Avenue Montaigne, waving flares and banners. The nationwide protest movement comes as Mr. Macron is pushing plans to raise the country’s retirement age to 64 from 62 by 2030.

• 72andSunny has been named the lead creative agency for Wingstop after a review process that began in December. The account was previously held by Leo Burnett since 2018. This is a significant win for 72andSunny, which also picked up accounts with Sonos and Zillow last year. Wingstop, which operates more than 1,950 restaurants globally, spent over $123 million on advertising expenses in 2022.
• Meta has made its Artificial Intelligence (AI) project called Animated Drawings an open-source tool, which uses object detection models, pose estimation models, and image processing-based segmentation methods to create animated versions of drawings. By releasing the project as open-source, Meta hopes to encourage developers to create more extensive drawing-to-animation experiences, while a dataset of 180,000 drawings is available for developers to work with.

• US stocks rose on Thursday after data showed a significant drop in the producer price index in March, signaling falling inflation and a cooling labor market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained almost 400 points and the S&P 500 had its best day since February. This provides further indications that the Federal Reserve may pull back on its rate hike campaign. Investors are now pricing in a 68% chance the Fed will only hike rates by 25 basis points at its next policy meeting, and a 31% chance the Fed will pause rate hikes.
• Disney has announced that Splash Mountain ride in Disneyland California will permanently close on May 31 and be replaced with Tiana's Bayou Adventure, a ride based on "The Princess and the Frog" character Tiana. This comes after activists called for Splash Mountain to be removed from Walt Disney World due to its roots in a 1946 film with racist stereotypes. The new ride will feature new and old characters from "The Princess and the Frog" and is set to open in 2024 in both parks.

• The Food and Beverage Sector in the US is showing resilience despite declining VC deal volume, according to PitchBook data. While late-stage VC activity has decreased, with a fall of more than 25% year-over-year in Q1 2023, the Food and Drinks Sector has remained relatively stable, with 1030 transactions driving deal value to $1 billion, an increase from $800 million, respectively, in Q3 and Q4 of 2022.
• Apple has filed a patent for an advanced camera system for FaceTime calls that recognizes in-air gestures, captures notebook drawings live, and more. The system is designed to provide faster, more efficient methods and interfaces for managing a live video communication session and/or managing digital content, while reducing the cognitive burden on a user and producing a more efficient human-machine interface. The patent focuses on the use of a next-gen camera system that will allow users to use hand gestures to zoom a camera in on something a team member wants to present and allow note-taking on a pad and have it show up on a MacBook or iPad display.

Should I make an edgy meme account next?

Happy Friday! See you all next week –

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